Buyer's impression?

I'd say this is somewhere in the £12k to £15k bracket, but I don't have to think about that.
I only went to get "warmed up" .... Guess that makes me a tyre kicker?

 

"Sacrilege!"
1) it then becomes a "molestee"
2) apart from the R&R it's not set up for touring ... no insulation, no heater, no split charge leisure battery, no poptop etc ...
I got it as a wedding work horse, and to at least have a complete bus on the good lady's appointed birthday, at a keen price (I think you know how much) ... to the extent that it would go for more now despite the slump, which covers what we've put into it over the last three years.

What I did confirm by looking at this Westy is that we don't want a full on Westy interior ... much better a Devon, or whichever but with a twizzy front seat minus bulkhead kind of story ... and no need for pop top beds either ... What SELFISH grandparents we are!!

 

Fair enough. I thought Devon interiors were made from wheatabix? I guess what you mean is a Devon style interior, i.e. less cupboards.

 

exactly so

 

So we have the beginnings of a specification.

Must haves:
Right hand drive
Devon style interior with R&R bed
Pop top
Insulation

Nice to have:
Heater
Hookup

What about fridge? Any particular engine favourite? Late or early? Sink and hob? Oven?

 

Well I'm trying not to proscribe too much ...

Prefer the front end look of an early, but coming round to accepting the benefits of a later build.

Yes to heater and hook up.

Full blown cooker not a priority, though madam is one for her cuppa, so a "non electric brew up facility" would move things along better!
Probably swing out unit in case we get into kippers and scrambled eggs

Oven is way down the pecking order.

Probably "cool box" rather than fridge ... It's a noise thing

Edit: type 1 engine I'd feel I could look after myself, now ... It's the original lawnmower after all.
Type 4 would be more "robust" and "up to date" but cost more to maintain?
No Scoobies thanks!

 

I was planning on doing the interior myself on the original Dormobile (roof great, interior, not so much) ... Time constraints are different now though.
If I'm going to be making something it should be the sculpture/automata that have been waiting in the wings for several years now.
Call me pathetic if you like but I'd think twice about separating an original westie interior from its bus, unless it was put in there by a previous owner anyway, in which case it's fair game!
As you know I would need a couple of hooks for mugs

 

But, forgive me, the point is you need to be proscriptive, the list of requirements and their relative priority is up to you, but without that list you end up back a square one again..

 

Those modern cartridge stoves are great and cheap to run. Don't fret over a hob. I don't use my sink, do many? A gas fridge is silent, but you may not like sleeping with it on gas, hookup is ok. I bought a second compressor fridge so I have one for drinks and one for food

 

Who me?

 

Dormy was butchered.
The project here is a tin top LHD.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. It was offered to me as a solution to the hole I was in with the birthday present plan.
Someone will.want it from us
I've only just woken up to the Devon Moonraker top.
No windows like the Dormobile one, but the same long "pitched roof".
The Westy roof I saw yesterday didn't seem to give a lot lengthways (?)

 

The Westy roof only covers the hole where the sunroof would have been. VW were, I have heard, reluctant to approve conversions that might comprise on structural integrity.

 

I think even the Dormobile conversion changed at some point, moving either forward or backward, I forget which.
Maybe they were trying to reduce that issue?
I think it was originally toward the front, with the cooker under the passenger cab seat so maybe, if I got that right, they shifted it back to reinstate a cross strut ???

 

So where are we now?

Late Bay (cross over considered) - late's are more modern.
Right hand drive
Type 1? (easier to maintain).
Devon style interior.
Fridge and cooker optional.
No oven
Roof type (not Westy)
Heating, hookup (both can be added later)
Full width bed (your getting on a bit after all)...

See it's easy, and then you know what you're looking for

 

Gas fridges are silent but the compressor Dometic is VERY quiet - you honestly don't know it's on . A good compressor cool box gives you the freedom to move it outside/up front- probably better than a built in fridge to be fair .
Washing up ?
The original Devon/Westy/dormobile items are tiny and not worth bothering if you're washing up anything bigger than a cup . A total waste of precious storage -
I carry a folding bowl ...
Pop top has a small shelf up there for storage when we're camping - took out the bed years ago !
Your dream van doesn't exist Mike , neither did mine but I knew what worked for me so went from there ..

Function over form every time

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

 

Oh .... and heaters are noisy , mains Hook up and a cheapo rad heater ticks all your heating requirements.
The moonraker roofs are the most expensive and sought after btw and I don't think they put them on earlies ??

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Good point, gas heaters etc are worth their weight if you go rough camping, or do festivals, anywhere with no hookup otherwise, on hook up, a small oil filled rad is ideal.